


Stumbling Towards Meaning

by WotanAnubis



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Camp Pining Hearts, F/F, Meepmorp, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 12:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7758124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WotanAnubis/pseuds/WotanAnubis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Peridot and Lapis create and discuss <strike>art</strike> meepmorp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stumbling Towards Meaning

_"But Paulette, if you won't tie the knot with me, I don't... I don't know what I'll do."_

_"Oh, Percy. I didn't know the Knot-Making Badge meant so much to you."_

Lapis sat outside on the improvised balcony, enjoying the sunshine and a _Camp Pining Hearts_ episode. Mostly the sunshine, if she was being honest. The episode wasn't much good. Not by _Camp Pining Hearts_ standards anyway. So it was a bit of a relief when Peridot suddenly appeared.

"Lapis! Come see this!" Peridot exclaimed. "My latest morp is done! Come on!"

Lapis gave one last look at the screen. Percy and Paulette were doing something incomprehensible with rope.

"Sure," she replied.

"I think you'll be amazed," Peridot enthused, with her usual modesty. "I mean, I really think I outdid myself on this one."

Lapis smiled vaguely. Peridot's latest morp was always a morp of unparalleled genius until she'd finished the next morp, by which time the first morp was suddenly a kind of awkward beginner's attempt.

Peridot led her to a small table covered in black cloth. A square had been drawn on the cloth in white chalk. Inside the white square were two gemstones - one peridot, one lapis lazuli.

"Ta-da!" Peridot exclaimed with an impressive wave of the arm. "My latest work! I call it _Fusion_."

Lapis looked at Peridot's newest morp. It did have a kind of stark severity to it. She particularly liked the black cloth. Even so...

"Fusion?" she said. "But the gems aren't fused. They're not even touching."

" **Yes!** " Peridot grinned. "That's the genius of it! It's... y'know, ironic. Or metaphorical. One of those things anyway."

Lapis considered this for a while. The gems weren't fused. Deliberately. And yet the morp was called _Fusion_. Also deliberately.

"Hmm," she said.

"Really?" said Peridot. "Just 'hmm'? I didn't think it was that bad."

"No, no, it's nice," said Lapis. "It just takes a moment to get is all."

Peridot scratched her chin. "I suppose it's a bit on the abstract side."

"I think I have an idea," said Lapis. "Hold on a sec."

Lapis turned and walked towards the Collection. It didn't really deserve the capital letter. It was just a big pile of stuff. A lot of it had been in the barn before they'd renovated it. Much of it had been collected for unfinished meepmorp. Some it had been picked up here and there just because it looked nice and maybe they could use it later for something.

Lapis emerged from the Collection holding four bits of wood. Three she put around the peridot and the lapis lazula, trying to put each bit of wood on top of one of the chalked lines. The fourth she carefully placed on top as a little roof.

"There."

"Oh, very nice," said Peridot. "Like a little home."

"That's right," said Lapis.

"Although... I'm not sure. The original may have been a bit too abstract, but I was going for something cerebral. This may be a little too obvious. Although it's very pleasant. Cozy."

"I see where you're coming from," said Lapis. "Maybe I overdid it a bit. Something else, then. Maybe... maybe add another peridot and another lapis lazuli and draw a line between them."

Peridot frowned. Then understanding dawned. "Oh, I see. Yeah, that could work. Only..."

"Only?"

"Well..." Peridot said, squirming uncomfortably. "One thing is just a thing. _The_ thing. Two isn't really anything. Too short to be a sequence, not enough info to be a pattern. A middle without an end."

"Oh, that's easily solved," said Lapis. "You just add a third bit. The fused gem inside a circle, maybe."

"Yes," Peridot nodded. "Yes. That would work. Except I don't know what kind of gem to use for a fused peridot and lapis lazuli."

"There's an easy way to find out," said Lapis.

"Huh? What do you...?" said Peridot.

"Oh."

"OH!"

"Gosh, I..."

"I mean..."

"I don't..."

"Maybe..."

Peridot pulled herself together with a visible effort. Lapis was pleased to see her still blushing.

"That would work," Peridot admitted, her voice hardly trembling at all. "But I'm not sure we should. I don't think we should fuse just for meepmorp."

"I don't know," said Lapis. "I can think of much worse reasons."

Peridot laughed. It was the harsh, unnatural cackle she always used to try and lift a suddenly heavy mood. It never worked. Though Lapis could appreciate the effort.

"Well, it's certainly something to consider," said Peridot. "In future maybe. For now, let's just consider this a work in progress, shall we? I'm sure you're creatively exhausted right now. I know I am."

"Sure," said Lapis.

"So, uhm... Say! Which episode were you watching anyway?" Peridot said.

" _Tying the Knot_ ," Lapis replied. It wasn't the most elegant way of changing the subject, but she wasn't about to thwart Peridot's desperate attempts at backing the conversation away from fusion.

"Oh, that one," Peridot said dismissively. "I always skip that one. The low point of season 2, in my opinion."

"Yeah," Lapis agreed. "But I decided to do a complete watchthrough of season 2, so..."

"You know," Peridot said with faux-thoughtfulness. "It's been a while since I actually saw that episode. What with me always skipping it. Maybe we could watch it together?"

"That'd be nice."

"Great! Let's go."

"What about your morp?"

Lapis nodded towards the two gemstones still inside their little wooden home. Peridot quietly watched their work for a moment with a calculating look.

"Let's just leave it like that for now," she concluded. "The whole thing looks much warmer that way."

"Yeah," Lapis agreed. "I think so too."


End file.
